The Rescuers
The Rescuers is a 1977 American animated adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions and first released on June 22, 1977 by Buena Vista Distribution. The 23rd film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, the film is about the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization headquartered in New York and shadowing the United Nations, dedicated to helping abduction victims around the world at large. Two of these mice, jittery janitor Bernard (Bob Newhart) and his co-agent, the elegant Miss Bianca (Eva Gabor), set out to rescue Penny (Michelle Stacy), an orphan girl being held prisoner in the Devil's Bayou by treasure huntress Madame Medusa (Geraldine Page). The film is based on a series of books by Margery Sharp, most notably The Rescuers and Miss Bianca. Due to the film's success, a sequel entitled The Rescuers Down Under was released in 1990, which made this film the first Disney animated to have a sequel. Plot In an abandoned river boat in Devil's Bayou, a young orphan named Penny drops a message in a bottle containing a plea for help into the river. The bottle washes up in New York City, where it is recovered by the Rescue Aid Society, an international mouse organization inside the United Nation. The Hungarian representative, Miss Bianca, volunteers to accept the case and chooses Bernard, a stammering janitor, as her co-agent. The two visit Morningside Orphanage, where Penny lived, and meet an old cat named Rufus. He tells them about a woman named Madame Medusa who once tried to lure Penny into her car and may have succeeded in abducting Penny this time. The mice travel to Medusa's pawn shop, where they discover that she and her partner, Mr. Snoops, are on a quest to find the world's largest diamond, the Devil's Eye. They also discover that Medusa and Mr. Snoops are at the Devil's Bayou with Penny, whom they indeed kidnapped, and whom they guard with two trained crocodiles called Brutus and Nero. With the help of an albatross named Orville, and a dragonfly named Evinrude, the mice follow Medusa to the bayou. There, they learn that Penny was captured to enter a hole that leads down into the pirates' cave where the Devil's Eye is located. Bernard and Miss Bianca find Penny and devise a plan of escape and send Evinrude to alert the local animals, who loathe Medusa, but Evinrude is delayed when he is forced to take shelter from a flock of bats. The following morning, Medusa and Mr. Snoops send Penny down into a pirate's cave to find the gem, with Miss Bianca and Bernard hiding in her skirt pocket. The three soon find the the three soon find the Devil's Eye within a pirate skull; as Penny pries the mouth open with a sword, the mice push it out from within, but soon the oceanic tide rises and floods the cave. Miss Bianca, Penny and Bernard barely manage to retrieve the diamond and escape. Medusa plans to keep the diamond for herself, hiding it in Penny's teddy bear while holding Penny and Snoops at gunpoint. When she trips over a cable set as a trap by Bernard and Bianca, Medusa loses the bear to Penny, who runs away with it. The local animals arrive at the riverboat and aid Bernard and Bianca by trapping Brutus and Nero, then setting off Snoops' fireworks to create more chaos. Meanwhile, Penny and the mice commandeer Medusa's swamp-mobile, a makeshift airboat. Medusa unsuccessfully pursues them, using Brutus and Nero as water-skis, and is left clinging to the boat's smoke stacks as the irritated Brutus and Nero circle below while Snoops escapes. Back in New York, the Rescue Aid Society watch a news report of how Penny found the Devil's Eye, which has been given to the Smithsonian Institution, and how she has been adopted. The meeting is interrupted when Evinrude arrives with a call for help, sending Bernard and Bianca on a new adventure. Cast * Bob Newhart as Bernard * Eva Gabor as Miss Bianca * Geraldine Page as Madame Medusa * Michelle Stacy as Penny * Joe Flynn as Mr. Snoops * Jim Jordan as Orville * John McIntire as Rufus * Jeanette Nolan as Ellie-Mae * Pat Buttram as Luke * Jimmy MacDonald as Evinrude * Candy Candido as Brutus and Nero * Bernard Fox as Mr. Chairman * George Lindsey as Deadeye * Larry Clemmons as Gramps * Dub Taylor as Digger * John Fiedler as Deacon Owl * Shelby Flint as Singer, Bottle * Bill McMillian as T.V. Announcer Songs * The Journey (sung by Shelby Flint) * Rescue Aid Society (performed by Eva Gabor, Bob Newhart, Bernard Fox and the Disney Studio Chorus) * Tomorrow Is Another Day (sung by Shelby Flint twice) * Someone's Waiting for You (sung by Shelby Flint) * The U.S. Air Force * For He's a Jolly Good Fellow (performed by the Disney Studios Chorus) International premieres * United States: June 19, 1977 * Argentina: July 14, 1977 * Brazil: July 22, 1977 * Mexico: August 3, 1977 * United Kingdom: October 13, 1977 * Spain: November 25, 1977 * France: November 30, 1977 * Italy: December 15, 1977 * Netherlands: December 15, 1977 * West Germany: December 16, 1977 * Hong Kong: December 22, 1977 * Australia: December 29, 1977 * Ireland: July 14, 1978 * Sweden: December 2, 1978 * Colombia: December 21, 1978 * Finland: December 22, 1978 * Denmark: December 26, 1978 * Norway: December 26, 1978 * Japan: December 19, 1981 * Hungary: June 11, 2007 International titles * Argentina, Mexico, Peru: Bernardo y Bianca * Brazil: Bernardo e Bianca * Bulgaria: ? * Colombia: Bernardo y Bianca: Al rescate * Denmark: Bernard & Bianca * Finland: Pelastuspartio Bernard ja Bianca * France: Les aventures de Bernard et Bianca * Germany: Bernard und Bianca - Die Mäusepolizei * Greece: Bernard & Bianca: Kommandos tis sotirias * Hungary: A mentöcsapat * Iran: Nejatgaran * Israel: Bernard ve Bianca * Italy: Le avventure di Bianca e Bernie * Japan: ビアンカの大冒険 (Bianka no Daibouken) (Bianca's Great Adventure) * Netherlands: De reddertjes * Norway: Bernard og Bianca * Poland: Bernard i Bianka * Portugal: As Aventuras de Bernardo e Bianca * Russia: ? * Serbia: Spasioci * Spain: Los rescatadores * Sweden: Bernard och Bianca International releases For information about international dubs and releases, The Rescuers/International. Category:1977 films Category:1970s Americans animated films Category:Films produced by Wolfgang Reitherman Category:Films produced by Ron W. Miller Category:Films directed by Wolfgang Reitherman Category:Films directed by John Lounsbery Category:Films directed by Art Stevens Category:Film scores by Artie Butler Category:Walt Disney Animation Studios films Category:Walt Disney Pictures Category:Walt Disney Feature Animation Category:American musical films